We had the good fortune to be able to attend the 25th Annual Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts this week. Having never been before, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect, but were blown away by the introduction of new talent, performances by some beloved artists we were already familiar with, and an impromptu finale that was a perfect end to the evening and could not have been better had it been scripted. We were also introduced to The Rock & Roll Society of Edmonton, an wonderful organization we hadn’t yet heard of but are very excited to start working with. The evening was a wonderful reminder that while we love providing opportunities for our local kids to see arts and entertainment events as they pass through town, we also have a wealth of home-grown talent right here in our community backyard, so to speak.

There are definitely movements to promote your local resources, whatever they may be; some recent popular ones include The 100-Mile Diet, staycations or our own Live Local program, which encourages shopping, eating and playing in our community. But it’s easy for us to get caught up in our busy lives and then forget about these ideals at times. While it’s always nice to expand your horizons, it’s equally important to support your local talent as well – remember where you came from, as the old adage goes. Which is precisely why we’re so thankful for the opportunities created by our partnership with CIBC in the CIBC Kids Theatre For All program.

The benefits of exposure to arts and culture have long been recognized, yet thousands of Canadian children face financial and social barriers that prevent them from accessing performances in their community. CIBC Theatre for All helps to remove these barriers and give underprivileged kids the gift of experiencing a live arts production – theatre, dance, opera or symphony in their community. The CIBC Theatre for All program was launched during the 2007/08 season at Citadel Theatre in Edmonton by holding donated tickets in a pool reserved for Kids Up Front, who is then notified about what tickets are available for which performances and dates. Since then, the program rolled out across all other Kids Up Front offices (Calgary, Toronto, Vancouver). With this initiative, CIBC became Kids Up Front Canada’s primary corporate partner in providing access to live arts performances in our community.

In the first few months of this year alone, we have been able to send over 300 Edmonton youth to live arts programming at The Citadel Theatre and the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony For Kids, and look forward to a continued dynamic partnership with all our local organizations. Why leave a seat empty when you can gift the experience to a child?

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